THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL

Harry Belafonte

THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959). Director: Ranald MacDougall.

Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte of Odds Against Tomorrow) is an engineer working underground when he is trapped for several days. When no one comes to rescue him he manages to make his way to the surface, and discovers that everyone has vanished. Newspapers report that millions fled the cities because of a radioactive dust that flooded the world after an apparent nuclear holocaust. Ralph makes his way to a deserted Manhattan where he moves into a luxurious apartment building, turns on a generator so he can have electricity, and sends out radio messages in the hopes of finding someone else alive. Then he meets Sarah (Inger Stevens), who was in a decompression chamber. As the two grow closer she claims that the difference in their races doesn't matter to her, but Ralph isn't sure he can believe her. Then new arrival, Benson (Mel Ferrer of Born to Be Bad), comes to town, and a melodramatic triangle situation develops.

Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer

As contemporary critics noted, the first third of World, with Ralph discovering (more or less) what has happened and exploring his vacant surroundings, is the best part of the movie and suggests that something powerful might be in the offing. But unfortunately, the movie begins to fall apart with the arrival of Sarah, and pretty much collapses altogether with the introduction of Benson. Benson claims he has no problem with "negroes," but he's just a civilized racist, and his actions are ludicrous, occurring only because the filmmakers needed some suspect "drama." Although Belafonte -- who is top-billed -- and Stevens give good performances, neither they, Ferrer, or the film itself ever quite gets across the depth of their emotions as it pertains to this apocalyptic scenario -- there are times it's hard to believe this story is happening post WW3. Ferrer's performance is unbelievably poor and perfunctory -- when he talks about his missing wife and child he might as well be discussing a trip to the supermarket!

Abandoned cars on bridge -- where did all the people go?

Because World turns into a schlocky B Movie when it could have been so much more, the bored audience has time to ponder a variety of things that the script never addresses. How come there is not a single corpse anywhere? Did anyone besides Benson make it out of the cities? Why no mention whatsoever of radiation sickness?  What about people in nursing homes and hospitals? And so on. Why introduce a potential end-of-the-world scenario and then virtually ignore it completely? Even a Grade Z item wouldn't make that mistake, and this is an expensive MGM CinemaScope production (albeit in black and white).

Menage a trois? Belafonte, Ferrer, Stevens

There are some good things about the movie, however. Belafonte's character is a positive and sympathetic African-American, the hero -- not just the protagonist -- of a film made late in the fifties, which alone makes it of note. Harold J. Marzorati's cinematography is striking. Miklos Rozsa wrote the score for the film but there isn't enough of it. The title of the film is completely appropriate if pretentious. This being the fifties, Belafonte and Stevens aren't allowed to touch, let alone sleep together, and while the two should have kicked Ferrer out of New York altogether, in that time period the film couldn't end with an interracial couple going off together. However, the finale, which is meant to show hope for racial unity, instead unintentionally suggests something even more controversial: a menage-a-trois!

On the Beach was released the same year, and Five, which also included racial tensions in its storyline, came out eight years earlier. Ranald MacDougall also wrote and directed Queen Bee with Joan Crawford.

Verdict: A major missed opportunity but not without points of interest. **1/2. 

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW

Harry Belafonte and Ed Begley

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959). Director: Robert Wise.

With some difficulty ex-cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley of Sweet Bird of Youth) puts together a small team to pull a bank job in the town of Melton. There is initial resistance from musician Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte), and especially Earle Slater (Robert Ryan), a racist who at first refuses to work with a black man. But Ingram's family has been threatened by Bacco (Will Kuluva of To Trap a Spy), to whom he owes money, and Slater is tired of his wife, Lorry (Shelley Winters) paying all the bills, so they ultimately decide to go along with the plan. Everything seems to go like clockwork, until the actual robbery.

Robert Ryan and Shelley Winters

Odds Against Tomorrow, like all good caper films, spends a lot of time concentrating on its characters, so their fates have a little more meaning. There are still things we don't learn about these three men, however. The performances help make them three-dimensional: Begley is superb; Ryan again proves what an excellent and under-rated actor he was; and Belafonte also proves that there's more to him than just good looks and musical ability. Shelley Winters, in the early phases of her slovenly phase, is also excellent, and there is a very, very well-played scene between Ryan and Gloria Grahame [Blood and Lace], playing a lusty neighbor, in the former's apartment. Will Kuluva scores big in a fine turn as the menacing Bacco.  Richard Bright is cast as Coco, an associate of Bacco's who is clearly meant to be an old-fashioned pre-Stonewall "faggot" -- nasty and queeny -- not the only element that at times makes Odds seem a bit dated. Coco makes flirtatious comments to Johnny, who only looks upon him with homophobic disdain. (Not the first or last time a movie looks at one minority group with sympathy while being unsympathetic towards another.)

Robert Ryan

Kim Hamilton, a lovely actress, makes an impression as Ingram's ex-wife, who couldn't put up with his gambling and the type of people it put him into conflict with. There are also smaller roles played by people who would go on to bigger parts: Wayne Rogers as a tippling soldier, and Zohra Lampert as a young lady he's trying to impress in a bar. Hefty black songstress Mae Barnes also has a good scene when Belafonte cuts into her act. I also spotted Cicely Tyson as a bartender. Joseph C. Brun's cinematography of New York City and environs, including the Hudson river and Melton, is of a high order, and there is an interesting and quirky score by John Lewis, full of dissonance, which occasionally veers into uncomfortable shrillness. Odds is fast-paced but conversely takes its time telling its story. It has a literally explosive finish, although at the end some viewers, along with the characters, might think it was all a little pointless. A slightly jarring note is the too comic delivery of an actor who plays a man whose car is somewhat demolished during a gun battle. Watching the scenes in "Melton," I was pretty sure they were filmed in Hudson, NY, and it turns out I was right.

Verdict: Highly interesting, absorbing and extremely well-acted caper film with a difference. ***.